Measuring container for dental alloys or the like



Dec. 11,1923. I N 1,477,226

C. W. MEGUIAR MEASURING CONTAINER FOR DENTAL ALLOY$ OR THE LIKE I FiledFeb. 8. 1917 Patented Dec. 11, 1923.

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CHARLES WILBUR'MEGUIAR, or SOHOBA,KENTUCKY.

Manson-me CONTAiNER non DENTAL eLLoYs on THE HIKE.

Application'ifled February 8,1917. Serial No. 147509.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that GHanLns' VVILBUa MEGUIAR, a citizen of the UnitedStates,

residing at Sonora, in the county of Hardin and State of Kentucky, hasinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Measuring Containers forDental Alloys or the like, of which the following is a specification,

reference being "had therein to the accom- 'p'anying drawing.

This invention relates to containers for dental alloys or the like, andmore particularly to a container of this character mouth of the bottlewhat he'considered to be the proper amount or" alloy to becomeintimately connected with the mercury to form the amalgam. Usually theamount of alloy discharged from thebott-le is determined by guess-workon the part of the user, though in some instances, the more carefuldentists have resorted to balances and scales, involving additionalexpense and time.

Many objections and disadvantages incident to the use of the glassbottle as the container for dental alloys. have long been recognized bythose skilled in the art to; which the invention relates, among whichmay be briefly mentioned the following.

Because of the material of which the containers are made, i. e. glass,the same are subject to breakage in being transmitted from place to.place as through the mails or by express and in'the use of the same bythe dentist they are apt to become upset or fall upon the floor andbecome destroyed "with the incident loss of the alloy. These containersare not only expensive because of the construction thereof, but theweight of the same is an item in'the consideration of transportationvcharges. Again, the containers may, if desired be refilled by anunscrupulous party with an interior grade of alloy and possibly palmedofi as the original standard grade originally placed in the bottle bythe manufacturer. In the use of the ordinary bottle container, thedentist often leaves theopening exposed by the removal of the corkclosingmeans which from a: "sanitary point'Yof view is highlyobjectionable, the open mouth of the bottle forming a convenientrepository for'the'collection of dust, etc. j

Still further, assuming that the dentist discharges from the bottle morematerial than is necessary'for the "desired mifxture, any surplusage iseither necessarily wasted,

or if gathered up and replaced in the bottle, ahighly objectionableoperation jfrom the standpoint of cleanliness, etc, Will result,

and this factoris quite important considering the use to which alloy isput.

It may therefore be to be among the objects of the present invention toovercome the above 'and many other objectionable "characteristicsincident to containers as at present employed, by'the provision of asimple, inexpensive, sanitary, and substantially non-breakable containeradapted to discharge measured quantities of the material at will, and ofa character tomake "extai'ner with dental alloys or "the like.

A further objectof the invention, is to provide a container forthedescribed and similar purposes, which islight in weight, thus materiallyreducing both the cost of production and transportation-charges, also a;container oftransparent material, whereby the contents may be observedat all times,

and said material preferably being'toi'i'gh and yieldable whereby toovercome possible .oeedingly difiicult a refilling of the con- Ibreakage and incidentl'o'ss of the material should the container becomejarred, upset, fall upon the floor, etc f 1 Afurther object ottheinventionis to provide a container ,With (no el; 'andTimproved meansfor closing the outlet thereof whereby to protect the contents fromoutside influence to a large extent, and Wherebyto efiectively close thecontainer against accidental discharge of the material. M

Another teatii'e "of the v ntionfresi'des in the provision of meanswherebythe' con tainer maybe supported in' an upright position, andwhereby the outletjftrom the icontainer is arranged in'the bottomwallprbase thereof, to the end that said putlet fs proprovide acontainer of the character described, adapted, in the operation thereof,to accurately discharge measured quantities of the contained alloy orthe like, the amount of discharge being substantially uniform at alltimes until all of the material within the container has beendischarged. It is also contemplated by the invention to provide acontainer of the character described with a novel construction of outletpassage which conveniently takes the form of an internal tube opening atone end to the outside and opening at its opposite end into thecontainer whereby to constitute an inlet for the material to bedischarged, which said tube preferably tapers from the'inlet to thedischarge end thereof, whereby to facilitate the ready discharge of thematerial without the possibility of any of the material cloggingadhering to the sides of said tube in the discharging operation, and

' also facilitating the positioning of the closure means for the outletto be more particularly referred to hereinafter.

More particularly, the invention includes a tubular container having aclosed end and an opposite apertured end, and an internal discharge tubehaving an inlet opening adjacent the closed end of the container and anoutlet opening to register with the aperture in the open end of thecontainer, with means whereby the container may be supported in anupright position with the closed end of the same uppermost, with theresult that said closed end and the inlet end of the internal tubewillremain substantially free from accumulation or any compacting ofthealloy at these points duri11 periods of rest.

Ftill other and further improvements, and novel details in theconstruction and arrangement of the various parts of the invention willbe appreciated from the description to follow, which, for a clearunderstanding of the invention is to be considered in connection withthe accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, and wherein isdisclosed, for the purpOse of illustration, a convenient andsatisfactory embodiment of the invention, though in this connection itis to be'borne in mind that certain minor changes in the details andconstruction and arrangement of parts may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit or contemplation of the invention.

In the drawings Figure 1 is an elevation of the improved capsule orcontainer with one end removed. Figure 2 is a similar view with the endin, lace.

- igure 3 is a vertical section of a capsule complete showing the alloycontents.

Figure 4 is an elevation of the tubular discharge conduit, prior to itsapplication course of construction of the same.

being preferably in the form of a cylindrical tube, one end connectingwith a slightly enlarged annular offset part or base 2 and the oppositeend connecting with a coneshaped part8, the apexof which latter, is

arranged preferably substantially in alinement with the longitudinalaxis of the body part i, the wall of the. body part 1 conven ientlytapers from the annular part 2, inwardly to its point of connectionwith'the cone part 3, not only to assist in the feeding of the materialtowards the pointed terminal of the cone in the discharging operation,but also to facilitatethe removal of the body part from the mould or thelike while in The tapered formation of the body part also assists inmaintaining the container in an upright position against accidentaltilting and upsetting when placed upon a suitable support with theannular base 2 in position thereon. In the construction of the container, the lower end wall together with the discharge conduit isconveniently formed separately from the body portion as illustrated moreparticularly in Figure 4; of the drawings, the lower end wall beingconveniently cone-shaped as illustrated at a and connecting at its outerend with an annular flange 5 of substantially the same as, or slightlyless than the depth of the annular base 2 of the body part, though ofslightly less diameter whereby to be readily inserted within and contactwith the inner surface of the annular base 2, the shoulder 2 of the bodypart which connects with the annular part 2 forming an abutment to limitthe inward movement of the conical end 4 in assembling the latter. Theconical bottom member or end wall 4 is provided witha central aperture 6in alinement with the apex of the opposite conical end 3 of the d, thesaid tube projecting to a point above I the point of connection betweenthe body part 1 and the conical end 3 and terminating at a point spacedinwardly from the apex of the end 3, whereby to provide an annularpassage-way 8 between the open end 7 of the tube 7 and the closed end 3of the body part. The length of the internal tube 7 and the degree ofspace between the open end 7 thereof and the closed end 3 of the bodyportion, will vary accordiiig to the amount of material to be dischargedthrough the tube 7 While the flange '2 of the "body part 1 and of thecone s'haped end almaybe secured to one another in-variousways andbe'within the contemplation of my invention, in the embodiment of theinvention illustrated,

the'lower end of said flange 2 is preferably slightly upset inwardlythereby forming an interlocking and overlapping connection or joint 5closed against the accidental discharge of the material at this pointand tion between the interior compartment of the container and the openinlet' 'end of the discharge tube 7. With this in View, I

preferably provide a closure in the nature of a plug or stopper 9, which'latter is "preferably formed of yieldable material'such as cotton,which is at all times accessible to the dentist because of the varioususes to which cotton is put by-him. In assembling the closure, the sameis forced throughthe tube 7 and into contact with the inner surface ofthe termiii'a l'of the cone-shaped end 3 of the body part, the closure 9being forced into wedging contact with said surface and overlappedrelation with the inlet end of the tube 7, as more clearly illustratedin Figure 3 of the drawing. 'When in position, this closure will preventany accidental discharge of the material through the tube 7 or anyaccumulation of the material upon the inner surface of the coneshapedend 3 of the container or the inlet" end 7. It will 'be appreciated thateach time the closure is removed, it will serve as a cleansing mediumfor the surfaces contacted therewith, and in the application or re--moral of the closure the ordinary dental wire or broach generallyemployed in inserting or removing cotton may be resorted to.

All of the parts of the container excluding the closure means arepreferably formed of thin, light, flexible, transparent material, and Ipreferably utilize in this connection gelatine or gelatinouscomposition, which is of especial advantage not only because of thereduced expense, the ease of manufacture, and other equally importantattributes, but the further fact that the same is unaffected by and hasno detrimental effect upon the dental alloy.

/Vhen the parts are formed of gelatine or the like they may after thedry alloy 10 is placed in the body be readily united so as to o m asubsta t ally sealed joint by the tube turning the ed e of the flag-e"Qiinward ly f preferably under-heat "to "the condition. llustrated inFigures, The internal discharge tube 7 preferably tapers inwardly fromthe base thereof to the "inlet end wherebyjto facilitate the readyinsertion '-of'tlie tube through the alloy "and also discharge of thematerial'througlrthe tubeand v prevent clogging or adherence or thealloy to the inner surface of the tube which would prevent accuratelymeasured quantities tofbe'jdisc'harged at each operation.

The normal position of the container when not in use is as illustratedinthe drayvings, uprightwith the'poi-nted closed end uppermost, and inthis position it will be noted thatthe outlet ordischarge "end will beeffectively protected against the admission of dust, dirt,orthe'like'eren assuming, 7 that the closure "9 "-rem'ains removed fromthecont'ainer after'usei Tlren again, since the dischargecnd'of the tube7 isisp aced 11 wardly from the annular base 2 oft'heicontaine'r, thedischarge end the tube not "being in contact with the surfacefis protected from the "accumulation .at this point 0f foreign materials whichmight bej'idischarged by the contact lthei'ewith of the alloy as ieavingthe"container. v

111 the "useof the device, the operator grasps the same and afterremoval'offthe closure 9 invertsthe position of the container when thematerial will flow downwardly through the passage B the spacefbe-.,.

tween the 'innersurface ofthe pointed ter minal part of thecone'3 andthe inlet end of Thereupo'n, the container is quickly repositioned with.the conical end 3 uppermost when a measured quantity of theinateri'alwil'liree'l pass through aerate '7,""1o5 I and bedischargcdffrom the'lower en'd'of j the container,' reason of "the -factthat the closed end is' in the form of cone with a sulistantiallypointed ap' ally from theseat or pocket formed apex of the cone,biitt'hesameWill'fbe posi- 4 jr fe ist no likelihood of the material. pilatr:

uniform measurements until. all of the material within the container hasbecome exhausted. I I

It has been appreciated that the present container while not necessarilylimited to such use is adapted more particularly to receive dentalalloys which, as will be understood by those familiar with the art, arepeculiar in that they tend to cling or adhere to surfaces, and tocondense or settle compactly when allowed to continue in a space. Sincethe closed conical end;30: the 0011;-

of the operator may be operatively connect-.

ed to the container for moving or oscillatmg the same to perform thedischarglng function, such for instance as illustrated and described inan application filed by me concurrently herewith. When such means areresorted to, however, 1t is quite deslrable in the normal position ofthe parts to maintain the container withthe closed conical portion 3disposed uppermost, for the reason herebefore referred to.

What I claim is l. A capsule for dental alloys and the like comprising atubular member having,

a base or bottom and a cone-shaped closed upper end, said base or bottombeing adapted to support the capsule in upright position, and aninternal tube projecting upwardly from said base and terminating shortof said upper closed end, said internal tube being open at its top andbottom, and the lower end ofthe tube having an opening constituting anoutlet from the container.

2. A container of the character described, comprising a' tubular bodyportion having a cone-shaped closed upper end and a lower end with acentrally disposed aperture, and an internal discharge tube surroundingsaid aperture and projecting upwardly from the lower end with an inletopening adj acentv I to but spaced from the closed upper end at thecenter thereof, and said lower end of thebody portion being adapted torest on a suitable surface whereby to maintain the closed opposite endin uppermost position and whereby to protect the open end of thedischarge tube.

3. A container for alloys or the like, comprising a tubular member ofthin, yieldable, transparent material having a closed conical end and anopposite end with an aperture therethrough, and an internal tube oftransparent material surrounding said aperture and projecting inwardly.to a. point adjacent the inner surface of the terminal of said conicalclosed end, the said opposite end of the tube 'with said aperture beingadapted to rest upon a surface and thereby constitute means forpreventing the entrance of dust or forei n matter throtwh said a erturewhen not in use.

in said open end of the container, said tube projecting to a pointadjacent the apex of the cone-shaped end and having an inlet opening atthis point, and an interlocking engagement between the body portion ofthe container and said apertured end.

5. A container fordental alloys and the like, comprising a tubularmember having a cone-shaped closed upper end and a substantiallycone-shaped lower end with the apex disposed uppermost, said lower endhaving an integral upwardly projecting discharging tube o-pen at itsopposite ends,

and with the upper end thereof spaced a slight distance below the upperclosed end of the container, said discharging tube connecting with saidlower end at the apex thereof, substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

CHARLES WILBUR MEGUIAR.

